finance director services

My approach

As a Chartered Accountant with more than 29 years experience in senior commercial finance and accountancy practice roles, I can provide a unique service to small to medium sized enterprises that are looking to develop and expand their operations.

I like to work in an informal, personable and collaborative style where relationships are built on mutual trust and a clear understanding of the different roles each individual must play within a successful team. In this way issues can be dissected and discussed in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere, but ensuring the financial implications of strategic decisions are understood rather than based on 'gut feel' or anecdotal information.

Professional history

I began my professional training with a Sussex based firm of Chartered Accountants, where I learnt the fundamentals of bookkeeping and accounting from working with a client base of generally smaller businesses. I also developed an appreciation of the issues such organisations can face.

I then moved to a national accountancy practice, providing audit, accounting and other business services to a wide variety of clients with turnovers ranging from under £1m to £60m. This is when I learnt how to interpret the numbers in a set of accounts in terms of understanding business performance.

During the period I also developed my people management and communication skills. I was noted for my strong technical skills and given roles that involved reviewing the work of my colleagues for adequate quality, as well as mentoring staff and devising and delivering training courses.

I left general practice and went on to work for various commercial organisations in senior finance roles. I have overseen the accounting processes for businesses with turnovers ranging from £13m to £270m and staff numbers ranging from 100 to 3,000 people across multiple sites.

My responsibilities involved the day-to-day running of finance departments and working closely with the owners, board directors, other senior management and external parties of these organisations.


These roles involved:

  • Monthly Board reporting
  • Business planning and cash flow management
  • Acquisitions and due diligence (on behalf of either the acquiring or acquired party)
  • Integrating the accounting processes of acquired businesses with the rest of the organisation
  • Being a key player in an Administration / CVA (company voluntary arrangement), successfully restructuring a substantial business that still continues to this day
  • Attending Board meetings as Company Secretary, acting as the point of liaison for the directors and shareholders
  • Resolving difficult reconciliation issues and correcting accounting errors
  • Being a key player in designing and/or implementing process changes/ improvements, including roll out of new management information system
  • Drafting yearend financial statements, being the lead contact with both internal and external auditors
  • Acting as the primary contact with HMR&C and tax advisors on VAT, corporation tax, and certain other tax matters


In 2010 I decided to put all this experience to work in my own business. KW Finance Director Services was set up to provide part-time finance director services to small and medium-sized businesses in the Brighton & Sussex area.